Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I have been accepted into a training program and have found, much to my surprise, that some of the curriculum makes use of teachings from outside of the Pali/Theravada traditions. Despite this unexpected twist I am in no way put off as I feel there is much to learn from the Mahayana perspective and I have enough confidence in the teacher to give the training program a go. As a result I find myself trying to come to terms with and understand the meaning of certain central tenets of the Mahayana lineages and one in particular: the vow to save all beings.

Taken in purely literal terms (as I am wont to do), the vow to save all beings makes no sense in an early Buddhist context: no one can save anyone else, not even the Lord Buddha was able to do so. In fact, in most Mahayana traditions this would seem to be as impossible and non-sensica as it would be for the Theravada diaspora; hence the admonishments in the Bodhicaryavatara, the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva, etc. So, what can this mean?

One thing that has been pointed out to me is the stance taken by the venerables in the Diamond Sutra and hinges on the difference between the conventional and paramattha dhammas. In short, in the light of anatta it is incorrect to speak of beings at all much less beings to be saved. I am beginning to be of the opionion that the vow serves to generate a desire to help all beings in the conventional sense when, in fact, there are ultimately no beings to be helped. It’s far too soon to tell if this is simply a clever play of words or if there is more to it but I will continue to inpsect and see what arises.

May all beings be happy (even if they don’t exist)!